Technology, Theology, and Anything In Between

I currently have two VPS systems that I’m using to test out IPv6 connectivity.  One of them is with arpnetworks, and the other is with nerios.  More companies I’ve noticed are offering native IPv6 connectivity, and assigning /64 or /48 blocks to users.

Incidentally, I’d like to recommend arpnetworks as a provider of FreeBSD and OpenBSD VPS systems.  I’ve found that they have the fastest virtualization for BSD of any of the providers that I’ve used so far.  Their specialty is BSD virtual servers, so this is a niche hosting company that delivers a quality service for the money paid.

I’ve been using IPv6 for connecting to IRC servers, and do run some webservers.  There will probably be more to do as more people start connecting with it.  So far there aren’t any providers in the area that are offering Internet access with v6, so for now I use the 192.88.99.1 anycast method to connect.

I was reading this post by Missionary/Pastor David Cloud, and it got me thinking about my own life and television.  While I have some strong disagreements with the kind of Christianity his web site encourages (I am probably considered a New Evangelical by that group, even though I have serious problems with New Evangelicals as well), this is an interesting post he made for several reasons:

1.  First off, I do not believe that a television is in and of itself evil, in the sense of machinery.  I don’t believe most of the people writing in for his testimonies believe this either.  I do agree there are many things on the television now that are really not worthwhile for a Christian to watch. Seeing hours of people who are not following Christian principles as entertainment probably does contribute to a warped worldview, or more likely a syncretistic view of Christianity, in which elements of the culture that are not Christian are rationalized and integrated.

Personal soapbox for a moment:  For instance, it is interesting how many Christians in America support war and violent behavior, despite admonitions from Jesus and Paul (end of Rom. 12) to be peacemakers and to “live peaceably with all men”.  A steady diet of TV, especially all the police shows, includes lots of shooting and violence.  I can only wonder if some of this contributes to desensitizing our consciences to the horrors of war and violence.  Also note – I realize that there are good Christians that disagree on the matter of just war vs. pacifism.  My intent is not to go into this here, but show our minds can be “seared” towards accepting behavior that the Bible may not or does not condone in certain circumstances.

2.  I can attest that since we have removed cable television due to financial constraints, I personally have found more valuable things to do with my time.  While I do like to watch some of the Christian channels, not so much for teaching, but to understand current trends in the “Christian culture” that are going on, it is easy to watch several hours of programming and not be better off  for it.  We are only given so much time in life, and we should try to make the most of it.

3.  One wonders if getting rid of TV is really a good option.  There are useful things that can be done with it, for example as one of Mr. Cloud’s readers mentioned, they use it for game systems.  We have personally seen benefits for using a game system in conjuction with exercise games.  Also, I suppose the TV could be used to do multimedia presentations of family devotions, if the parents chose to use it that way.

Conclusions:

A larger concern about the abandonment of television would be how are Christians to engage our culture in a meaningful way in the media if we abandon all forms of television.  For instance, I would suggest that Mr. Roger’s Neighborhood was a successful way of a Christian creating a television show that had an influence on the culture at large.  In his own words: “I got into television because I saw people throwing pies at each other’s faces, and that to me was such deameaning behavior.  And if there is anything that bothers me, it’s one person demeaning another.  That really makes me mad”. (Hollingsworth, 2005, pg. 4)    Mr. Rogers saw a problem with television, and sought to transform it.  If Christians completely abandon this medium, what will be left?  Sadly, I can’t point to another person on TV today  of his stature.  Can you?

References:

[1] Hollingsworth, Amy. (2005). The Simple faith of mister rogers.  Integrity Pub.

While I am probably best described as a dispensationalist, I get frustrated with the system quite frequently.  I get very frustrated with the Independent Baptist movement sometimes too.  There are many good things I can say about Independent Baptists, and even dispensational theology.   There are some negative things that I do wish to point out.

For instance, my son wants to be a garbage man when he grows up.  Some people think this is funny, others are concerned and think I should point him in another direction.  If collecting trash is what he wants to do, I’m not going to stand in the way of that.  He is also very concerned about recycling and the environment.  I think this is great — maybe he will go to college and have a career in environmental sciences.  But this is where the Independent Baptist culture may possibly conflict.

Most Independent Baptists I know are staunch Republicans, who love to complain about “liberals” and “Big Government”.  I personally am Libertarian, so I am considered conservative and liberal depending on the issue.  Because of their beliefs on politics, they tend to think anything related to the environment or global warming is pure nonsense.  On top of this, theology about the end times is brought up about God creating a New Earth, so the implication is that these subjects don’t matter, since according to this theology we cannot harm the earth enough to eradicate ourselves, since it will be destroyed and re-created by God in the end.

I’m not taking sides on the global warming debate.  I’m only trying to point out that the Independent Baptist culture is at some point going to discourage my son.  I don’t know if he goes off to a college away from here what kind of church I’d recommend to him.  Possibly a Mennonite church, but there aren’t many around most areas.  At some point, he is going to either have to live with the cognitive dissonance of the church on one hand, and science on the other.  Or, he will have to leave the Baptist denomination in search of a church something more closely aligned to his work.  Or thirdly, he may give up on Christianity altogether.

My hope is that I can train my children so that when they get older, they don’t abandon their faith altogether like the latter scenario.  I would rather educate my children in things such as Luther’s doctrine of vocation, and help them see the good in a profession like science.  I’ve had to deal with these issues of religion and science in my own career, and I find it hard because there aren’t many people talking about how Baptists can relate to the world’s problems as Christians and those that work in scientific disciplines.

In going back through church history, I’ve found the Mennonites, who are an Anabaptist group.  One thing I like about Mennonites is their commitment to live out the Sermon on the Mount and the teachings of Jesus here and now.  While I realize many of the newer schools of dispensational thought do not have problems with its application to today, there are still plenty of ways in which the teachings of Jesus are not applied to contemporary situations and problems, in my opinion because of dispensational theology.

In this mode of thinking, I can see linking the command of Jesus to love our neighbor as ourselves in the fields of science.  We should be concerned about the environment as Christians, since taking care of it is being a good neighbor.  For instance, my next door neighbor would not appreciate me dumping my used car oil over the fence onto her properly.  That would be selfish of me.   So my responsibility is to do what I can to make sure I’m not stealing from my immediate neighbor, or future generations as well.

I created two channels on IRC, related to my own theology interests.  You can stop by #baptist, or #anabaptist on DALnet anytime.  Most times I’m on IRC in the early to late evening, but I do have an account where I stay logged in.  So please drop by and say hello if you are an IRC user.

It is now another new year.  Time to think about what to do differently this year, and set some goals.  My big goals this year are to get through the pile of books that I have.  I could easily read many of them in two months, but I’m trying to take notes and record them in Evernote, so I will have a searchable database of notes on many subject that interest me.

Some thoughts for today:

“Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called sons of God.” (Matthew 5:9 ESV)

I’ve been very busy during the months of November/December, so that is why I haven’t posted since October.  There are many things in life that take priority over blogging.  I’m hoping to get back to a normal schedule of at least two posts per month in 2010.

This year, I studied many theological books and articles.  I always like reading material from a broad array of sources.  I discovered some interest in the following areas:  studying other denominations, Christian pacifism, and differing eschatological views from my own.

1. Other denominations

I really liked studying writings from a Lutheran perspective.  Some of them included writings from several Internet Monk posts.  I find that I’m just not into the new evangelical Christian subculture.  I attended a megachurch for a couple weeks while on vacation, and was not impressed.  While things were for the most part done very tastefully, I just couldn’t get into the whole rock band / theater atmosphere.  I guess I like worship more contemplative and reserved.  I’m finding it is hard for me to accept the Americanized version of Christianity which tells people that God will give you everything you want if you just believe.  I think of the Christians whose paths were marked by pain and suffering for Christ and His cross.  I started looking into Mennonites when we were on vacation near Lancaster, PA, which got me thinking about:

2.  Christian Pacifism

I’ve often wondered on and off over the years why the church doesn’t practice more of what Jesus actually said.  Being in a confessional church like I am, we place much emphasis on doctrine, which usually comes from the Epistles to the churches.  I think there is not as much talk about what Jesus said in many churches because what He said is hard, sometimes difficult to understand, and against what we are used to.  For example, in America, it is hard to find a “conservative” politician that is against any of the recent wars / proposed wars that we are waging.  In churches, just about every Christian I know backs the wars that we are fighting.  I wonder why in light of “Blessed are the peacemakers” that we are so pro-war.  Especially since as I understand just war theory, I’m not sure our current war(s) even fit within that.  I found that the Mennonites have a very rich tradition of non-violence, and some great theologians, such as John Howard Yoder.  I began reading his material, as well as others, and came to the conclusion that at least I would be a conscientious objector if for some reason I was drafted.  Due to my age it would probably only happen if there was a need for my technical skillset, which I hear is not beyond the question the way some members of congress have been talking.

3. Eschatological Views

I’ve had a growing discontentment with the view of eschatology I learned growing up and in college, dispensational pre-trib, pre-millennialism.  There are a few issues I see as issues in application of the system.  For example, during my childhood years, it was very strongly suggested that full-time ministry was the “best” vocation, and all others were second class.  I think some of this was due to the belief that we were in the “terminal generation”, as Hal Lindsey’s book is named.  The issue I see with this thinking is that probably many in fundamentalist and evangelical Christianity decided that they should withdraw from the larger issues of society, and become largely focused on themselves and only in matters of evangelism.  When I went to Bible college, the professors mentioned on more than one occasion that we needed more books written from the Fundamental Independent Baptist perspective.  The only problem is the movement discourages “scholarship” and higher learning.  The downplay of intellectualism is starting to reverse slightly, but it is still alive and well.  The real issue is that any respected Seminary is not going to line up well with the tenets of the Independent Baptist ideals, so one must “cross-pollinate” in order to do so.

I’m not sure where my eschatological views will end up, but I have a feeling there will be more people embracing amillennialism/postmillennialism/historic premillennialism, simply because they are getting tired of trying to figure out how long the “generation” in Mat. 24 is.  During the 1980s and 1990s when I read prophecy literature based on dispensational pre-tribulation pre-millennialism, the time interval since 1948 was starting to get large, and now it is larger still.  At what point is “this generation” going to be understood in an allegorical, rather than figurative sense.

So there  it is, 2009 in review theologically for me.  While I was busy this year, I found time to start re-thinking some of the beliefs that I’ve held for some time.  I am a firm believer that you must re-assess your beliefs periodically, as there are blind spots that we all have, and it is good to think about the greater impact that holding certain doctrines may have.  These are just my rambling thoughts this evening.  Over the course of next year, hopefully I will be able to write out in greater detail why I believe what I do, and will in those articles include a fair amount of references so you can dig deeper, and also to credit my sources.

I want to thank any of my regular readers, especially if you have clicked on my advertising.  I received my first check from Adsense today, which has been 4 years in the making.  While this blog contributed maybe 10% of the total payout, it has been helpful.

I know there are debates about whether or not to advertise on a blog, since there is a tendency to write about subjects that will draw good ads.  I just try to write posts about theology and technology as I think of them.  Whether or not it makes me any money is secondary.

If anyone is out there thinking about using Adsense, yes, it really does work.  But, remember that your click throughs will probably be below 1% (in my case it is about 0.37%).  With that in mind, you will need to drive some serious traffic to your site in order to make any money.  I’m sure some people get a check every month or two, but it takes alot of pageviews to get that.

If you are like most software engineers, you are probably worried about keeping your job, and what would happen if you were laid off. While none of us can predict the future, here is an idea to help stay organized, should a search become necessary.

If you have a web server, either one on the internet or at your house, download the SugarCRM community edition. My CRM database is installed on a FreeBSD system, but it should work on any system that supports LAMP. I would recommend making sure the PHP modules needed for email are working with the install of SugarCRM. The installer will tell you if email will work or not. On my FreeBSD system, I had to do a recompile of the php additions in the ports package.

The next step is to update your resume, and upload to job boards, such as dice, monster, etc. Then, as recruiters contact you, start to add their companies and their names and contact information to your CRM database. The idea here is to keep accumulating names and contacts. Should the time ever come that you are laid off, you will have a nice database of prospects to call on and look for work.

Hopefully you will never need to use the database because of layoff. The database could be used to just ask around and keep track of the market. I’ve maintained several relationships with recruiters, and I’ve found that they can give valuable advice as to the kinds of work out there, and hourly rates and wages. In the age of social networking, sometimes just using a database like a rolodex can be a very powerful tool.

I realize very few people that are my friends will need this information, but there are a few that may benefit from it. To that end, I wanted to write about an ongoing problem I’ve had with a break-in that happened to me. One of my development systems on the Internet was compromised recently.

I had just opened an account and was trying the system out, and one morning I woke up to find abuse emails pouring into my mailbox. When I logged in and looked at the system, I found several new usernames created, and hacking scripts. Since then, my machine has been re-imaged to prevent the possibility that a rootkit had been installed. The abuse reports are still pouring in from machines who were attacked from mine. It is a big paperwork mess and not fun at all.

To prevent this in the future, or at least reduce the risk by a large amount:

1. Disable PermitRootLogin. I didn’t think to do this, because most of my Internet systems are FreeBSD, and this option is set to “yes” by default. Most Linux distros (at least CentOS and Debian) set this to “yes”. This is not a good option, as “root” is an easy username to guess, and after that, it is only a matter of brute-force cracking.

2. Move SSH to a different port if you can. This will keep most “script kiddies” out, as they probably aren’t going to do a complete port scan of the machine.

3. If possible, write some firewall rules that are very strict to only allow the IP addresses and ports that are really needed. In other words, grant only as many privileges per IP address and port to provide the services you are advertising. Anything more can create extra vulnerabilities.

Again, my production systems have been locked down in this manner. I didn’t think to do it on a development system, since it was only a week old and I was trying to get Xen virtualization working on it first. I’ve learned my lesson: secure the machine first. I was surprised how many attacks happen every day with crackers connecting via SSH.

Please do at least secure your systems with these ideas, and you will have less chance of a machine being compromised by malicious attacks. There are scripts available that will email you if they see any failed login attempts. If you have any additional ideas, please feel free to post them! I hope this has been helpful to someone, and a reminder that computer security is an important item we need to be vigilant about. I dropped my guard for a week and I was taken advantage of.

I’ve not been posting for awhile, due to some intense configuration of a new server with Xen, and also installing Asterisk on an existing server.  My intentions are to lower my fixed hosting and telephone costs by using virtualized servers, and by using Asterisk for an interactive IVR to help route support and sales calls to my business.

I was able to find a very inexpensive SIP provider, Unlimitednet.US.  They provide local and toll-free inbound DIDs and outbound trunks for very low prices and per-minute rates.  Because of the low call volume I receive, this should allow me to have a professional sounding phone system for very little money.

One helpful hint I can give is I had some difficulty installing CentOS 5 on a Debian Lenny host Xen system.  I have details on how to make the install go smoothly.

I’ll have more to say later, once I get back to a normal schedule.